Breaking Away - article from the Star today

[crossjunkee]

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090424/NEWS/904240356

Cyclist's 1962 Little 500 triumph is the stuff of legends
Cyclist's triumph inspired the film 'Breaking Away' and revealed his own grit
By Melissa Tussing

But for David Blase, the solutions always come on a bike.



That's how he confronted his own fears and self-consciousness as an Indiana University student. His triumph was immortalized in the Academy Award-winning film "Breaking Away," and on its 30th anniversary, the film and cycling still loom large in Blase's life.

Now a retired Indianapolis Public Schools teacher, at 69 he still bikes 200 to 300 miles a week. Last year, he started lifting weights for the first time.

He's found that when faced with the "self-imposed torture" of a tough ride, there's no way to avoid yourself.

"You find an inner peace about yourself," Blase said. "You don't have to pretend to be something other than who you are."

For him, the Little 500 starting today in Bloomington remains irresistible.

"When I raced, there were 11,000 people in the school and 18,000 at the race," Blase said. "Every time the bikers go past the crowd, there's a roar, and all you hear for two hours is that roar."

Blase used to bike to Bloomington each year to watch the race, but he stopped when the event started later in the day.

"There's just no way to get back from the race before dark," Blase said, so he'll be driving today. As many as 25,000 spectators are expected to attend this weekend's events, which include the women's race today and the men's race Saturday.

Not that Blase started out with a passion for the race.

"I thought I couldn't do anything like that," he said. "I always viewed myself as a scrawny, puny guy."

So he was surprised he could zoom past classmates from his dorm when they finally got him out on a bike.

"I thought, 'Gee, what could I do if I tried at something?' " Blase said. He emerged not only with a victory in the 1962 race, but also with a determination that's still very much a part of him.

"Everything is attitude," Blase said. "You can't control what happens to you. What you can control is what you let beat you up and defeat you."

Although he's 47 years removed from his own win, Blase said the experience of the Little 500 stays with its racers long after.

"I knew people who were in the race that say it was one of the landmark experiences of their lives, and especially one of the best in college," he said. "And that's saying something."

[johnnymossville]

awww that's so cool. I think that's probably a race I'm going to have see once in my life. That guy still puts in a lot of miles!

Loved the movie.

[crossjunkee]

If you click on the link, there is a picture of him holding his Serotta.

[bozman]

"Everything is attitude," Blase said. "You can't control what happens to you. What you can control is what you let beat you up and defeat you."

Words to live by.

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

[mistermo]

I rode in Little 500 in the eighties. It represents everything that is RIGHT with cycling these days. You have 132 amateur riders who train all year for the honor of representing their fraternity or dormitory. Then, on race day, a crowd of tens of thousands honor them at the race. When I raced, I think the crowd was 30-40,000 people and was on ESPN. The proceeds of the race fund university scholarships.

Lest one think the competition is second rate, many of the winners have gone on to represent the US internationally in the Pan Am games or better. Indiana U is a sleeper when it comes to producing cycling talent. The racing, on a cinder track, is tight and ferocious. It's like roller derby on bicycles. Current US criterium champ Rahsaan Bahati and former US national crit champion Benjamin Sharp, raced at IU. My team's coach in the 80's was Roger Young, of 7-11 fame. This is a race that's taken very seriously by those riding. The fraternities pay for their teams to go to training camps in TX, FL, AZ for spring break while the rest of the student population is imbibing on the beach.

Because it takes place on a 1/4 mile cinder track, the race is much more viewer friendly than a typical cycling race. And the OP is correct, the enthusiastic (and often inebriated) crowd roars each lap as the riders pass.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that bicycle racing is fun. This is bicycle racing in its purest form and illustrates all that is good about our sport.

[mistermo]

From Velonews yesteday:

http://www.velonews.com/article/91100/2009-little-500-yes-it-s-a-real-race



2009 Little 500: Yes, it's a real race

By Mark Zalewski
Posted Apr. 23, 2009

The movie that sent many of us out on the road.
Baseball has films such as “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural.” Football has “Rudy” and “Brian's Song.” Basketball has “Hoosiers” and … “White Men Can't Jump?” (okay, there are probably better examples than that last one.)

The point is that sports and movies go together like Belgian beer and waffles. Of course cycling has a film to call its own ─ the 1979 Oscar-winner “Breaking Away.” Even the most fervent cycling fans among us might forget that the race featured in the story is, in fact, a real race... and the 58th running of the Little 500 is slated for this weekend on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Now the drama at the center of the film's plot ─ the townie kids pitted against the silver-spooned collegians ─ was dramatic license for the film. In reality one must be enrolled as an undergraduate at the school to compete. There is a Cutters team but that was an independent team formed after the movie.

The rivalries that are a part of this race can go back decades, often involving fraternities and sororities. For many years the race was all Greek-dominated. But in the early 1980s the real Cutters team formed as a splinter group out of one of the fraternities, and won the race. Since then teams from the Greek system, residence halls and independents have traded wins with the Cutters, the team which has since enjoyed the most wins, at nine.

What is at stake? Not a dime. Whatever money the race generates, all of it goes to fund scholarships, more than $1.4 million to date. For the riders, there is only pride. But make no mistake; the level of competition that surrounds the actual race is as serious as it gets in bicycle racing.

The student-athletes, many of whom have never raced a bicycle before, train most of the year for this one event. Some are former high school sports stars, others are just in it for the experience. It is so serious the top teams pay for their riders to go on spring break training camps to Arizona and Texas, foregoing the usual fare of partying in Mexico or Florida. That represents serious dedication for a college student.

Advertisement
Of course it is easy to think of this race as below tier, being only an amateur college race ─ the rules mostly forbid category 1 or 2 cyclists from participating. But every year this race has tens of thousands of fans in the grandstands and has been broadcast live on television for the past seven years... and that's without Lance Armstrong racing in it! What other American race can claim that?


How does it work?
The race itself is unlike any other in cycling. It is modeled after the Indianapolis 500 motorsport race to form a strange hybrid of track, cyclocross and criterium racing. It is run as it was 58 years ago, on a “Chariots of Fire” style quarter-mile cinder track, adding the risk of some intense road rash for those unlucky enough to crash.

Riders are obligated to use what the rules define as a “stock” bike, which is about as low-tech as one can get these days. First, it weighs a lot compared to today's carbon wonder-bikes... about 22 pounds. Second, teams can only change a few insignificant parts, such as the seat and handlebars. The gearing must be 46x18, with a coaster-brake style freewheel hub and platform pedals. (The taping of shoes onto the pedals a la 'Dave Stoller' is not allowed.) What comes out of all this is a level playing field so that ability and not money determines who wins.

Teams consist of three to four riders that “exchange” during the race, making for the most unique aspect of the event. Exchanges are done on-the-fly with one rider coming into the team's designated pit, on one pedal like a 'cross racer getting a clean bike.

Meanwhile a teammate stands on the opposite side waiting to take the bike and continue racing, hoping to regain their spot in the pack. Even more challenging is that the exchange must take place within only a 16-foot long pit area. The only rule for exchanges is that there must be ten (five for the women) at any point during the race.

Like the Indy 500, the teams must qualify to be in the race, riding a 4-lap time trial with clean exchanges each lap. The fastest 33 teams make it and are seeded as such, like in the auto race, in ten rows of three. There is a 3-lap parade before the green flag is dropped for a flying start to 200 laps (50 miles) for the men and 100 laps (25 miles) for the women.

The initial laps are usually very chaotic, with the top teams fighting for position and the weaker teams trying to keep up. A crash in the first few laps is quite common and the protocol for that is identical to the Indy 500. Yellow flags slow the field down holding their positions as the carnage is swept up. Also as in the car race, the pit is a critical strategy position with a team coach using a marker board to communicate with riders.

In the final laps the race is usually down to 4-5 teams in contention, though there have been rare cases of a solo break and even recently a team lapping the field. The main strategy for teams at this point is to decide when to exchange to put the sprinter on the bike ─ too early could wear the sprinter out, and too late could cost valuable position in the lead group.

This year's event is packed with the usual rivalries and pre-race favorites. The back-to-back defending men's champions, the Cutters, have qualified third behind two fraternities with the Cutters' captain Eric Young winning the spring series' individual time trial.

In the women's race, the defending champion Delta Gamma team is farther down in seventh, and will get a challenge from the Teter dorm team who qualified for the pole position with a new track record; as well as the independent team Wing It, whose Kristi Hewitt won the ITT with a record herself.

[victoryfactory]

I remember when that movie came out because I was riding a Masi at the
time. I used to get smirks from the "Cool Guys" in Central Park who assumed
I had run out and bought the Masi after I saw the movie. So I sold the Masi
and got a Benotto.

So now I see this guy with a Serotta... Maybe I have to go back to the Masi?

But seriously, I hope I can ride like that at 69! (just 10 years from now....gulp!)

VF

[johnnymossville]

You had a Benotto? Ever since I saw Sunday in Hell, the Paris Roubaix video, a few months back I've been thinking off and on about that Benotto in the opening scene.

NICE!

[victoryfactory]

Yep.
Benotto bronze (kind of a tan metallic) blue decals
All Campy record with the mavic anodized tubby wheels
Cineli bars and stem
and the famous blue Benotto plastic bar tape!

VF

[Dekonick]

Nice Legend. (pun intended...)

[dancinkozmo]

Yep.
Benotto bronze (kind of a tan metallic) blue decals
All Campy record with the mavic anodized tubby wheels
Cineli bars and stem
and the famous blue Benotto plastic bar tape!

VF

man...that tape was slippery like butter !

[mistermo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_tE89cVFMU

in hoc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBCYRZVspAw

[2LeftCleats]

I saw the same articles. I'm there tomorrow. Missed the women's race today. It is by far the most spectator-friendly cyling event I've seen.

[GuyGadois]

HDNET shows this race (DirecTV in HD, of course). I think it is on about noon on Saturday.

-GG-

[maunahaole]

Guy thanks for the tip - I get HDnet and will set the dvr.